[Mr Rogers]

BTW - 25 years ago, a black friend of mine & I were talking. He came from East St Louis. He told me I was naive about race. ‘If I took you to my brother’s house’, he said, ‘the only thing that would stop him from killing you is fear of being caught. He killed a white guy for being white and did his time in prison, and his fear of going back would be the ONLY thing that MIGHT keep you alive. I couldn’t.’

[Mr. Jeeves]

BTW - 25 years ago, a black friend of mine & I were talking. He came from East St Louis. He told me I was naive about race. ‘If I took you to my brother’s house’, he said, ‘the only thing that would stop him from killing you is fear of being caught. He killed a white guy for being white and did his time in prison, and his fear of going back would be the ONLY thing that MIGHT keep you alive. I couldn’t.’

Just try sharing that anecdote with a typical white American college student today...

[Lurker]

I had a similar experience with a black co-worker who lived in Markham IL. (Google it). I was young and stupid. He was a serious hard working guy. We used to grab beers after work. I told him I’d like to hang out with him some afternoon.

He got real quiet. “You wouldn’t make it home alive. It’d be much better if I came to your place.” So that’s what we did. It was very sad when he died of stomach cancer later. He was a decent man.

L